Superman
by coconut994777
Summary: After becoming fairly famous, Casey's deeds are quickly forgotten and things go back to how they were. It is a new school year, he discovers that his best friend in middle school who had moved away is back, and different than she used to be.
1. Chapter 1

During the summer, the recognition and fame faded for Casey Connor, Herrington High's hero during an alleged alien assault. As the summer days flew by, filled with summer homework, scholarship essays, and a few sci-fi and fantasy novels, September quickly rolled in with fall weather and school.

It was the night before the first day of school, Casey finished packing his backpack and picking out a flannel and pair of jeans, when the phone rang. After two rings, his mother downstairs picked it up. A few seconds later, she called up to Casey

"Casey, it's for you!"

With that, Casey flew down the staircase to pick up the phone. He hadn't gotten very many calls over the summer, save for a few from Delilah (his ex-girlfriend), some interviewers, and college scouts. "Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Casey?" the voice said. It was a girl, but Casey couldn't recognize who it was.

"Yea, may I ask who's talking?" he said curiously.

There was a giggle on the other line. "It's me, Superman!"

Casey froze, no one except one person ever called him by that nickname. "Christina? This can't really be you..." he said, smiling.

"You better believe it! We just got finished moving to our old house, I would've called you sooner, but-"

"Hey, can I ride my bike over? I haven't seen you in years!" he asked.

"Sure, I'll meet you at the corner!"

"See ya there!" Casey said, and then hung up the phone. He grabbed his denim jacket and headed to the door.

"Hey mom, I'm taking my bike down the street, I'll see you in a while!" he called to his mother in the kitchen.

"All right, be home soon, it'll be dark in a while. Who was that on the phone?"

"Christina!"

Casey rolled the bike out of the garage, and took off down the street, seeing a figure waiting for him by the street sign at the corner.

His best friend for all three years of middle school, he was so eager to see her again!As he got closer, he could tell it was Christina, but she was definitely different. She was a bit taller than she was in eighth grade when she moved. She had matured just as much as he had: he recognized the sandy-blonde hair, the ever-smiling face that greeted him, and was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful she was. She had always been picked on for being much more mature than the other girls, and looking it. But now, Christina looked just her age, which delighted Casey.

As he got to the corner, he hopped off, and rolled the bike up against the sign, and was greeted by a large hug. "It's been so long!" she said. Christina stepped back, and looked at Casey.

"You've changed so much, and yet, you're still good ol' Superman!" she smiled. "I've heard about everything that happened, I'm just sad I wasn't there to be with you, it sounded thrillingly adventurous!"

Casey smiled. "It was crazy!" He took a good look at her. "You have changed too! I haven't heard from you since last year, what happened?"

His friend's smiling face darkened as she looked down. "My little brother died, and my mother had a heart attack, and dad left us." she said with very little emotion. "We came back here because we still hadn't sold the house, and there was no point continuing to live in a city apartment for dad's job if he wasn't there, so we just finished signing the papers and moved back here yesterday. We spent today shopping and registering me for school." She took a breath as she noticed the look on Casey's face.

"So...wanna sit next to me on the bus tomorrow?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

She smiled, coming out of her mournful state. "I'd like that."

They sat down on the curb, and began to talk about school, life, and such things.

"So...how's that girl Delilah? Are you… going steady?" she asked nervously.

Casey laughed a bit. "Oh no...she's over me, she's back to dating this jock who was all over her last year." He looked down, thinking about the day she broke up with him, the last day of school before Spring break. "It was a just a joke to her I guess..."

Christina shifted closer to him, and placed her head on his shoulder as the sun began to set. In response, Casey placed his on her head.

"I've missed talking to you..." she said.

"Me too..."

Once the sun had gone down, Casey broke the sweet, peaceful silence they had kept. "I better head home. See you on the bus?" He said, as he hopped onto his bike.

"Of course!" She smiled, and waved as he took off down the street.

"Chris!" her mother called from the house.

"Coming!"

Casey rolled the bike into the garage, and walked back into the house. "I'm back!"

"Hey Casey," his dad said, not looking up from his newspaper in the living room.

"Are you all packed for school tomorrow, dear?" his mother asked.

"Yup, I got everything in my bag." he said, as he began to climb the stairs.

"So, how's Christina? Is she the same as ever?" his mother asked.

His father folded up his paper. "Didn't she move?" His father looked over toward Casey.

"Ummm, yeah, they moved back though...she's doing OK."

His father nodded and went back to his paper.

"All right, see you in the morning, dear." his mom smiled as he turned to climb the stairs.

"G'night, mom. Night, dad." he called back.

When he got upstairs, Casey flopped himself onto his bed, smiling. He swore to himself that he would try to win Christina's affection. It was a new year, and a new chance to show his love for her.

The next morning, his alarm clock beeped at 6:30, and he rolled out of bed as he pressed the "snooze" button. He shook himself awake, threw on the clothes he had laid out the night before, and quickly flew down the stairs to meet Christina at the bus stop after a quick breakfast.

"Morning, Casey." his mother said, still sleepy-eyed as she began to brew her coffee.

"Morning," he said, and kissed his mother on the cheek. He pulled open a cupboard and grabbed the box of Cheerios and poured them into a bowl. He quickly ate the bowl with a glass of orange juice, grabbed his bag, and began to walk to the corner where the bus stopped to pick up the kids on his road. Just like last night, he saw a figure standing at the bus stop waiting for him.

Casey ran down the sidewalk and across the road to join her.

"Good mornin', Superman!" she said cheerfully.

_It was sixth grade, the first day of school for Casey Connor. The beginning of the day went fine, his schedule was decently filled with the basic classes and a study hall, and he got all of the teachers he had hoped for. _

_He walked into the lunch room to find many other kids in his grade already sitting at tables with their friends. Then, at the last available table, there was a girl, who he recognized from his math class the period before._

_He walked over toward her, as she ate her sandwich. _

_"Umm, is there anybody else sitting here?" he asked, shyly. He had very little experience talking to girls. The girl looked up at him._

_"No." she said quietly. _

_Casey quickly took the seat next to her. He pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming; he was sitting next to a girl. But more amazingly: a pretty girl. He glanced over at her lunch, a sandwich with a small apple and a juice box. Then, he noticed something unusual underneath it all: a Superman comic. _

_"You read...comic books?" he asked. Casey immediately regretted saying that, when he saw her face blush up. He panicked. "I'm sorry...it's just...I think that's really cool...ya know?"_

_She took a little gasp when he said then, then looked over at him. "Would you like to read it? It's...it's the new issue..." She slid the magazine out from underneath her lunch bag, and held it out for him._

_But, as she did so, it was swiped from behind the two of them by another boy in their grade, who was being cheered on by the football team at another table. "Do you seriously read these, Christina? You're just as pathetic as all the girls say!" the group of them chuckled as the kid showed them the book. "Get yourself some lipstick and then maybe the other girls will like you..."_

_"Can...I have that back, please?" she asked quietly._

_But, he just walked away, taking the book with him, and when he arrived at his table, he and the football team tore through it._

_Casey sat in slight shock, as Christina put her lunch back into her bag and silently cried. _

_"That wasn't even my comic book...it's my little brother's...I'm in so much trouble, he'll tell mom and dad and..." she silently whispered to herself._

_Casey became furious that a bunch of boys would do that to such a pretty girl. "I'll be right back," he said to her. She stopped crying and watched as he got up and walked toward the other table._

_Casey, his adrenaline pulsing through his veins, walked over to the table where the thieves were sitting. "Give her the comic book back, it isn't yours!" he said, intently._

_The boy who took it from her stood up with the comic book in his hand, lifted his arm up above where Casey could reach. "Then take it."_

_Casey, thinking quickly, poked the kid's belly. As the boy cringed, he grabbed the comic book, and quickly walked back to the table. "I...think this is yours..." he said, handing the book to Christina._

_"Thank you...Superman."_

The two of them laughed as they reminisced about the beginning of their friendship. A few more kids stood behind them, talking amongst themselves. The bus pulled up, and the two sat down in a seat together. Casey had missed being able to talk about anything to someone.

The bus ride was fairly quiet, since most people were still half-asleep. Casey explained to her the details of the crazy events of last year. She listened with delight of her friend's incredible bravery. Then, they remembered the summer they spent between 6th and 7th grade.

_It was fairly warm all season, so the two of them rode their bikes a lot. They would race up and down the block, and there was always a tie, because neither one wanted the other to lose._

_Just around noon, they decided to ride underneath over to the large tree at the other end of the road to have lunch in the shade. They did this almost every day the entire summer. Except for one._

_Around the end of July, when the weather was particularly hot and humid, they spent their lunch time they would bike down the rode to a small ice cream store with a window facing a patio of picnic tables. _

_As they paid for their ice cream and sat down to their table, Christina noticed some of the former 7th graders standing near in the shade of the shop She ignored them, and continued to talk and enjoy the chocolate ice cream. When they were done, Casey volunteered to throw out the napkins and paper strips that were on the cones. Christina thanked him, and watched the traffic go by, until she realized the garbage can was near where the kids in the shade were standing. When she turned around, she saw them holding Casey up against the brick wall._

_She ran as fast as she could toward them, and heard them say to Casey "Hey look, your little girl friend has come to save you." And then another one said. "This'll be funny..."_

_Once she got there, she stood right up the the three of them without any fear. "Let him go. Now." she said._

_They all laughed. The one holding Casey turned to her and said smirkly "It's you and three. How much of a chance do you think you have?"_

_"Why do you bother bullying him anyway. We don't have any money, and I'm sure you're just doing it to make yourself look tough, right? What looks tough, is doing that to somebody who is tougher than yourself." she said. Then she laughed for a moment. "Look at me, for instance. The three of you could very well beat me up, but, I'm a girl and can scream without holding back."_

_The kid holding Casey let go of him, and nudged his head, and the three of them left._

The bus pulled into the bus loop at school. "Wow, we're here already?" Christina said.

Casey sighed, he knew what he was in for once he got off the bus. "Here we go. New year, here I come." he said to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Herrington High School hadn't changed too much over the summer. A paint job here, the sign fixed, the hedges trimmed, but it remained the same at any rate. As the two hopped off the bus and onto the campus, Casey tensed up as a few football team members walked by. Zeke, Gabe and a few others walked passed him, but only nodded. A year ago he would've been greeted with an up close and personal meeting with one of their fists. He sighed and smiled at the thought of a year without much bullying. He also saw Zeke walk directly toward Delilah, wearing a new blouse and sweater with jeans and mary janes.

"Hey, are you ok Casey?" Christina asked.

He shook himself for a second back into reality. "Yeah, totally, wanna come meet my friends?"

She nodded her head with an eager yet charming smile.

Sitting at a picnic table in the courtyard was Stokley, or "Stokes", with a few other members of the Sci-fi club. Since Casey had devoted more time to the Photography club, Stokes was only joined by three other girls at the table.

"Hey Stokes, do you remember Christina? She went here back in middle school…" Casey said.

"Your hair used to be a caramel brown, that you would wear a bit below the shoulder with a headband that matched your shirt each day." Christina interrupted.

Stokes nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I had forgotten about that. And of course I remember you, Christina, we did that project in English class together with Mrs. Campbell."

"That's right! You made the poster and I built the miniature model of Huck Finn's raft!" Christina exclaimed, remembering her 7th grade year. The girls giggled a bit then proceeded to bid each other goodbye so Christina could get her schedule, homeroom assignment, and locker. As she approached the secretary in the main office, she inquired what she needed since she just transferred, and received a folder including what she needed. She went to her locker quickly, then reported to her homeroom. Thankfully, she discovered that Stokes was also in her homeroom. But, so was Delilah. Christina remembered Delilah…

_It was the first day in school that Casey was out sick. He had a terrible case of pneumonia from being out in the cold, rainy weather. It was a cold November day in 6__th__ grade, the week leading up to Thanksgiving break. Christina was sitting alone in the cafeteria, quietly eating her carrot sticks, when a group of popular girls came over and sat in the seats around her._

"_So, your friend Casey isn't here today, huh?" asked one, a taller dark-haired girl._

"_Yeah," Christina said quietly._

"_Are you and Casey…a thing?" Delilah said maliciously. "Because, if I had the chance, I would date him and…"_

"_But you don't even talk to him!" Christina yelled out to her._

"_True, but dear, I'm far more appealing to a guy like him than," she laughed for a moment "you are. But even if we did go out, I'd probably just use him to buy me things and then break his heart…you wouldn't mind, would you?" she said, sneering her grin in Christina's face._

_But that didn't last long._

_The next thing the whole class knew, there was a loud sound of a hand hitting across a face, and then another. A second later, there was a roar of thunderous talking, and the footsteps of a teacher walking in to escort the girls down to the principal's office._

_Fortunately, the principal was busy dealing with another fight that had broken up in the high school between two guys, so the girls were told to sit there for a period of detention. But, since Delilah's mom was a "close friend" of one of the administrators of the school, only Christina served the punishment. The rest of the day was filled with boys criticizing her, and the next day it was as if nothing happened._

"Hey, you're Christina, right? I never thought you'd come back to Herrington…" said Delilah.

Then, Christina looked at her as she was now. Still as cruel as ever, but still a pretty-faced queen of evil…

"Yup, I'm back." She said, looking back down at her schedule.

"So, you know, Casey and I, were a thing last year."

Christina took a breath in, trying to control her temper, but then released it as a comeback. "But you discovered he was too nice for you, huh?"

Delilah's smile went away, as she realized how different she was than how she was in middle school. "Sure, you can say that. I suppose you wanna go after him next, huh?"

"We'll see…won't we?"

The bell rang.

Her schedule was pretty simple: Economics, Health, PE, Precalculus, Physics, Lunch, Chorus, Study Hall, and English. The only problem was figuring out how to get to each of the classes.


End file.
